City Shares 2019 Tree Maintenance Project

February 21, 2019

The City deeply appreciates and shares the concerns residents have for Lakewood’s tree canopy. Proper maintenance of the mature tree canopy is a process of ongoing, year-round hazard tree assessments. The Lakewood Urban Forest comprises over 13,100 trees and is a living and ever-changing ecosystem with a unique set of challenges different from what a more natural forest would require from a management structure.

Residents are assured that the only trees in decline with significant structural defects that pose a great potential risk will be removed. The strategy to remove is carefully developed by the Division of Streets and Forestry. We do not remove healthy large trees. More often than removals, the Division works to identify trees with structural defects that can be pruned to make safe and retain ecological services citywide.

The tree maintenance project being performed this spring will remove 18 hazardous trees along Clifton Boulevard and an additional 17 hazardous trees citywide. All trees that have been flagged for removal meet at least two of the following hazard conditions: risk of total failure due to significant wood decay fungi (either base/root flare, trunk/stem and/or branch collar attachments), noticeable external decay, deep vertical trunk cracking, large numbers of carpenter ants observed during summer months in conjunction with other defects, signs of internal decay and poor branch attachments that we have observed when up in the canopy when assessing trees, defects created by storm damage that we can no longer mitigate for preservation, past canopy leaf out at less than 66% in conjunction with other structural defects. Trees flagged for removal also all pose a threat due to being located in a high vehicle and pedestrian traffic zone with a high number of potential targets.

The stump or trunk may not always tell the picture of what the upper canopy decay or defects may have been. In some cases, the City may have to remove the trees due to buttress root decay. This challenge is in conjunction with an increase in the amount of fruiting fungi structures (Ustulina deusta fungi – and others) at the base of the trunk or within old branch failure cavities. The presence of the Ustulina deusta fungi in Lakewood was confirmed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Those trees impacted by Ustulina deusta fungi at the base of the trunk or within old branch failure cavities concern us the most. Infected trees decay rapidly and can eventually fail, either from large upper canopy fractures, from the base, or large buttress roots that become more prone to windthrow during storms.

We identify and keep an inventory of potential hazard trees and rank them accordingly for strategic removals each year to strike the proper balance of a safe, growing and much more diverse tree canopy on Clifton Boulevard and throughout Lakewood. The present Clifton Boulevard inventory is as follows:

Clifton Blvd. Large Tree Inventory – Tree Canopy Status – December 31, 2018:

• 44 large remaining oak trees on Clifton Blvd. – 30” inches trunk diameter at breast height (DBH) up to 50” DBH.
• 2018:

15 hazard trees removed via contractor in spring 2018.

6 hazard trees removed in-house during 2018.

• 2017:

17 hazard trees removed via contractor in spring 2017.

5 hazard trees removed in-house during 2017.

• 2016:

22 hazard trees removed via contractor in spring 2016.

7 hazard trees removed in-house during 2016.

• 2015:

23 hazard trees were removed via contractor in 2015

7 hazard trees removed in-house in 2015

Recent canopy replacement recent plantings:

2013 – 11 new plantings (5 species)

2014 – 27 new plantings (9 species)

2015 – 35 new plantings (11 species)

2016 – 36 new plantings (9 species)

2017 – 31 new plantings (8 species)

2018 – 39 new plantings (9 species)

Next Generation of Large Clifton Blvd Trees:

24-29” DBH – 41 trees

18-23” DBH – 43 trees

12-17” DBH – 36 trees

As of December 31^st, 2018, the total tree inventory for Clifton Boulevard is 448 trees. 179 new tree plantings have taken place on Clifton Blvd since 2013 versus 140 removals = net gain of 39 trees since 2013.

To learn more about the City of Lakewood’s forestry management, please reach out to the Chris Perry, Arborist, and Streets and Forestry Division Manager. You can reach him at 216-529-6813 or by email at chris.perry@lakewoodoh.net.